Under the influence of the Christian ecumenical movement, there has been a tendancy to reread the Western theological tradition through the lens of the Eastern idea of deification. The studies of the theology of John Calvin, who is a leading figure in the Reformation tradition, cannot avoid such a tendency, either. Not a few scholars have affirmed Calvin's doctrine of deification, in a way, akin to the Eastern doctrine of deification, by rereading him from the perspective of the Eastern Orthodoxy. However, with the objection to this interpretation by those who deny the presence of the idea of deification in Calvin, the question of deification in Calvin's theology has been a grave issue of an ongoing debate among Calvin scholars. The current debate on the question of deification in Calvin shows that the following three issues form the frame of reference for reasoning the question: Calvin's understanding of the communication of properties between Christ's two natures in the hypostatic union, the nature of his notion of union with Christ, and his idea of the nature of the salvific gift. The observations of Calvin's ideas about the three issues render incapacitate any attempt to find the idea of deification as participation in the intrinsic divine life in his theology. Calvin's rejection of the direct communication of properties from Christ's divinity to His humanity renders impossible the deification of Christ's humanity, which is marked as the basis of our deification by the interpreters who endorse his doctrine of deification as in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Calvin's idea of the spiritual and personal union with Christ, in which the ontological distinctiveness between Christ and us is guaranteed, disapproves the idea that the intrinsic divine life flows to us through the channel of Christ's humanity in our union with Him. Therefore it can be reasonably concluded that as far as deification is construed as the believers' participation in the intrinsic divine life, mediated by Christ's humanity in their union with Christ, it is hard to hold that Calvin teaches deification. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Dogmatics and Christian Ethics / PhD / Unrestricted

The thrust of this thesis proceeds from two main presuppositions. The first is that the Old Testament wisdom books are generally ignored or not given enough attention in the studies about water and water-related phenomena. The second is that the romantic perspective on elements of the natural world is dominant in eco-theological studies. To highlight this twofold problem, a sample survey into the works of the scholarly biblical dictionaries, encyclopedias, books and articles as well as ecotheological studies is offered in the second chapter of this thesis. In an attempt to (partly) address this problem, this study argues that, firstly, despite a scarcity of scholarly interest in water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books, this body of literature contains a rich variety of references to water and water-related phenomena. Secondly, it is shown in this study that an overly-romantic view of nature does not do justice to the richness, complexity, and variety of portrayals of elements of nature in the texts themselves. In this sense, this study aims at retrieving ecological wisdom from particular texts that give voice to both the life-giving and life-threatening potential of water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books. The exploration is facilitated by elements of the historical-critical and literary approaches through an ecological framework informed by four of the six eco-justice principles of the Earth Bible Project. The thesis suggests that scholars who attempt ecological readings of the Bible will gain more if they also take less favoured texts into consideration. The exploration of water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books, therefore, goes beyond what studies on water or water-related phenomena have hitherto done. Furthermore, a study on both aspects of water as a life-giving and life-threatening entity demonstrates that an eco-friendly view of nature does not do justice to the biblical texts themselves. This will be seen through the third, fourth, fifth and sixth chapters. / Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)

The thrust of this thesis proceeds from two main presuppositions. The first is that the Old Testament wisdom books are generally ignored or not given enough attention in the studies about water and water-related phenomena. The second is that the romantic perspective on elements of the natural world is dominant in eco-theological studies. To highlight this twofold problem, a sample survey into the works of the scholarly biblical dictionaries, encyclopedias, books and articles as well as ecotheological studies is offered in the second chapter of this thesis. In an attempt to (partly) address this problem, this study argues that, firstly, despite a scarcity of scholarly interest in water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books, this body of literature contains a rich variety of references to water and water-related phenomena. Secondly, it is shown in this study that an overly-romantic view of nature does not do justice to the richness, complexity, and variety of portrayals of elements of nature in the texts themselves. In this sense, this study aims at retrieving ecological wisdom from particular texts that give voice to both the life-giving and life-threatening potential of water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books. The exploration is facilitated by elements of the historical-critical and literary approaches through an ecological framework informed by four of the six eco-justice principles of the Earth Bible Project. The thesis suggests that scholars who attempt ecological readings of the Bible will gain more if they also take less favoured texts into consideration. The exploration of water and water-related phenomena in the Old Testament wisdom books, therefore, goes beyond what studies on water or water-related phenomena have hitherto done. Furthermore, a study on both aspects of water as a life-giving and life-threatening entity demonstrates that an eco-friendly view of nature does not do justice to the biblical texts themselves. This will be seen through the third, fourth, fifth and sixth chapters. / Biblical and Ancient Studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)